A Newbz Guide to Daily Fantasy

I don’t play fantasy baseball. Baseball simulations are more my thing. In 1998 I started a Strat-O-Matic league which grew to a league of 24 of us that play each other online. I’m completely in on Out of the Park Baseball, trying to lead my 2017 Miami Marlins – sans Jose Fernandez, Giancarlo Stanton and Carlos Santana (acquired) following season-ending injuries – in my second season as general manager/manager after starting my career managing the Pawtucket Red Sox. For whatever reasons, fantasy baseball just never caught on with me.

Then came advertising for Draft Kings and FanDuel. Lots and lots and lots and lots of it. My curiosity grew and finally, after a year of brain washing, the mad men won. Yesterday I threw down a whopping $10 and signed up for Draft Kings to see what the big deal was. It was a fact-finding mission, mostly. But a part of me, say my right pinky toe, wanted it to become a source of income for my beer fund. After my first 25 cent game, I realized that beer fund was going to stay dry.

And now I bring the experience to you, the TechGraphs readers. Learn from me, what and what not, to do.

Grab a promo code

Before you sign up for an account, make sure you have a promo code. It’s free money. I Googled and ran with the first bigger-looking site that didn’t seem sketchy. It promised a matching bonus up to $600 for the first deposit. The one I signed up for isn’t free money, though. It’s contingent upon me earning Frequent Player Points. I earned one point for my one game, and only have 99 left points left before my bonus kicks in. Geesh. So, search around a bit, see if you can find a better deal.

PayPal?!? YES

I wanted a royalty-related username, since the site is about kings and such, and discovered that landgrave is a German title. My last name is quite German, so you can find me at LandgraveK on the site. My wallet sits in the glove compartment of my car, because I roll dangerously. Fortunately PayPal is an option to make a deposit, as are major credit cards. Otherwise I would’ve had to walk outside … where there are people … that might want to wave or talk to me.

Take a deep breath

I was anxious to find a game once they had my money. I landed in the lobby, skimmed my options, and felt completely overwhelmed. It was like walking in to a major casino for the first time. Bright, bold colors illuminated a dark background. My eyes fixated on the big ads. I gathered my over-stimulated self and decided to proceed cautiously.

Slugfest, Perfect Game, Moonshot, Gold Glove. What is going on here? Guaranteed, Qualifiers, Head-to-Head, 50/50 Leagues, Multipliers, Steps. And then I found it. My peoples. The Beginner games.

draftkingscapture

The lowest entry fee was a dollar. I’m stupid cheap and looked around for quarter games. In my search, I found some free games that may appeal to those that want to try it out and keep a buck. One I came across sported a $10 prize spread among five players, so $2 winning each.

Bam. Quarter Arcade. This is where I belong. I joined a game that maxed out at 14,100 players. The first place prize was $150, a 500 percent return. With a $3,000 prize pool, those that finished in the top 2,800 would minimally double their entry fee, or better. Optimism warmed my belly.

Prepare, prepare, prepare

Things started off well, actually. Fellow TechGraphs writer David Wiers is a Draft Kings boss and Tweeted a tip.

Dan Haren was my first pick. And then things went totally wrong. I analyzed the pitching match ups, looking for the worst pitchers to draft a lineup against. Trevor Cahill’s a bum, so I drafted Kevin Plawecki in his major league debut and Lucas Duda. For fun I took Mike Trout, because I’m a huge homer, and Jose Bautista. A handy tool is that after each pick, it calculates the cost for average player remaining. For example, if I had five slots left to fill and $24,000 remaining (my funds started at $50,000), then I had an average of $4800 to spend on each player. I filled the rest of my roster utilizing this tool, my own instincts and figuring out best matchups. Without analytics.

Our brethren over at RotoGraphs do a fantastic job providing readers with quality research to help you select players for traditional and daily fantasy sports. Roto Riteup, which Wiers contributes to, and The Daily Grind are daily musts if you want to make educated decisions with your lineup. Or you can trust your guts and guile, like I did, and have Brett Anderson whiff in your face.

Pick your crew

Selecting players to add to your lineup is as easy as clicking a plus button. Each day’s games are listed with starting time and weather. If lineups have been officially announced, a check mark appears next to the player’s name. It’s no fun picking Buster Posey if it’s his off day. Each player’s profile features stats, updates and analysis for easy-access info.

Once you’ve set your lineup, you get the option of joining other games with that same lineup, which is handy if you’re looser with your pocket change than I am, or join other contests with a different lineup.

So how’d I do?

I was dreadful. I finished 11,527 out of those 14,100 players with a final score of 75.9. The aforementioned Anderson went negative on me against a crap Giants offense for -2.4. The Wiers pick, Haren, netted 15.3 points and was only bested by Bautista’s 16. I don’t believe he earned me any extra machismo points, however, after Tuesday night’s game.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t add that I downloaded the DraftKings iOS app, which performed as I’d hoped.

So what say you, TechGraph readers? Do you play? Are you curious? Comment below. All tips/tricks/advice are appreciated as well.





Seth loves baseball and anything with Sriracha in it. Follow him on Twitter @sethkeichline.

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Shane T.
8 years ago

An added word of advice to those joining with $10 and $15 deposits from promo deals at Baseball-Reference and Baseball Prospectus: DraftKings’ minimum withdrawal is $20. You cannot just pay for those (admittedly really good) deals and then take your money right back out.

mtsw
8 years ago

Don’t be fooled: even though the legal loophole that allows them to operate is that it’s a “game of skill,” DFS is just gambling. And hey: I love gambling so I think it’s great. But I’m afraid a lot of people are going to be fooled into thinking a moderately-smart person can consistently make money on sites like these which is totally false.

Players on DraftKings (I haven’t looked at FanDuel) are more-or-less appropriately priced (stuff like weather, park factors and pitching/platoon matchups are factored into the prices), so finding enough value to build high expectancy lineups that will win often enough to overcome the (pretty high) vig is extremely difficult. That’s by design: making the game hard to “win” by skill means that even bad players will win often enough to not realize they’re bad, rather than allowing the sharks to clean the fish out of the pool (which had largely happened in online poker before it was mostly banned in the US).

I’m not saying it’s impossible to beat the game, just as I know there are people who grind out a living betting on the NFL or college basketball in Vegas. But bookies drive BMWs for a reason and anyone interested in these leagues should consider any money they put in an entertainment expense, not an investment.

pft
8 years ago

Since its not gambling and MLB sponsors DraftKings, can MLB players play?

Poker is a game of skill too but its gambling. The randomness of baseball make any lineup a roll of the dice, even the best lineup in the world can not withstand David Price giving up 9 runs in 2 1/3 IP

Mustbunique
8 years ago

Even though I love fantasy baseball, I have avoided daily fantasy. Seems to me that my biggest advantage, large sample statistical analysis, is neutralized by the daily format and the game becomes luck based. Over the course of a season you could do OK if there were a season budget like in The Game, but being able to add more money any time is different. Looking for opinion of someone who has played daily.

JayBuhner
8 years ago
Reply to  Mustbunique

Actually, on the contrary Mustbunique. Most casual DFS players simply pick players by looking at Game Logs – who’s hot, who’s not. A lot also utilize small sample BvP stats. There is a great edge to be gained in understanding the volatility of the game and stats. Jumping on slumping players who have had a reduction in price, avoiding overpaying for those with unsustainable hot streaks etc.

The one major difference is in bankroll management, which there are plenty of articles online to help with that. But it sounds like you already know you don’t expect to win each day, many people believe the opposite or are shortsighted and after a big day put half their bankroll on games for the next day.

Also, it is gambling just as poker. People misunderstand gambling does not equal non-skill game. You are wagering money and winning versus your peers. This is gambling. A good player will win more than a poor one. This is a skill game. They are not mutually exclusive.